More YouTube Resources for Mandarin Learning

Many of my students ask for resources to hear and read Mandarin Chinese between classes. Below are links to some YouTube videos that can be helpful for learning Mandarin. Note on YouTube for parents: YouTube is a great place to find language-learning resources BUT the content is not heavily monitored for appropriateness for children. Children should use YouTube with adult supervision.

Preschool Level

Little Fox has some great Mandarin Chinese videos. Many of them do not have Chinese characters, unfortunately, but this video with a song for learning numbers does!

Preschool, Elementary & Up

Many of the Little Fox videos are based on stories that children already know, such as Little Red Riding Hood. This is very helpful for their comprehension and eventual acquisition of the language.

Elementary & Up

Like the Little Fox videos, the downside of the Muzzy series is that there are no Chinese character subtitles. The Muzzy videos are very slow placed, which is exactly what language learners need. These videos tell the story of an alien coming to earth. At fifteen minutes, Muzzy is a little long for preschoolers to sit through, but is appropriate for slightly older children.

Middle School & Up

If a student has been studying Chinese at the intermediate and above level, s/he might be ready for content created for native speakers. This does not mean that watching a Chinese-language movie will be the same experience as watching a movie in your native language. Pause, look up words, re-watch scenes as needed. The King of Masks, linked to below, is a great all-ages movie. One caveat, it takes place in Sichuan, so some characters have a heavy accent. The link below has Chinese-language subtitles. Versions of this film with English subtitles are available. If you are a parent and would like to read a review of the film so you know what is going on, a review from the late, great Roger Ebert is here.